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From Tony Osauzo, Benin
The leader of the Shua Arab in Edo State, Alhaji Idris Adanno, has cleared the air on the controversy that trailed the purported plan to crown a sultan of Shua Arab in Benin City.
The planned coronation, earlier scheduled for today, had elicited spontaneous condemnation from the public and the state government, which issued a ban on the activity.
But speaking to journalists in Benin City yesterday morning, Adanno who is at the centre of the controversy, declared the Shua Arab’s absolute loyalty to the state government and the Oba of Benin who he said is their father.
“The whole issue was misunderstood because of the language used. All the tribes from the North who are resident in Edo State are all under the Sarkin Hausawa but we all now have our individual Sarkin like those of Kanuri, Nupe and others.
“In our Shua language, the Sultan is our own Sarkin and we only wanted to celebrate my appointment as the head of Shua Arab in Benin because we are the second largest local ethnic group from the North. We are all under Sarkin Hausawa of Benin who gave us an introductory letter, which we submitted before the governor of the state, the Oba of Benin and the Secretary to State Government.
“We are all law-abiding citizens and under the laws of the state. We are also loyal to our royal father the Oba of Benin, who is father to all of us. We apologise to the state government for the mix-up and as law-abiding citizens, we have also cancelled all the activities we wanted to do as directed by the state government,” he said.
The Sarkin Hausawa of Benin, Alhaji Adamu Isa, corroborated Adanno’s posittion and attributed the controversy to the choice of language.
He said the Shua Arab “are a community resident in Edo and they have a large percentage of their people here too. They are into cattle breeding and other businesses. The thing is misuse of language from them.
“About five months ago, they came to me that since they are large, they want to have a traditional head so I told them to go and look for someone among them who is going to be their leader and so they came with one Idris and then some issues came up. Then I asked them to go and resolve it and I gave them a date to come back. And then we did the turbanning of their leader so that in case we have issues concerning them, we know who to hold responsible. “You know our culture, it is easier for you to regulate the activities of people using the traditional heads. That is why I said anytime we have a large set of people from the same place, we look for a traditional head. “The whole issue was misunderstood. I was born and bred here in Benin. My father was born and bred here in Benin so I understand the tradition and custom of the land and the laws of the state.
It was just misuse of language. Sultan in their own language means Sarkin,” the Hausa community leader in Benin explained.
